Latest News on Composting Banknote Waste

Biobanknote, developer of solutions for repurposing end of life banknotes (see CN February 2023) and the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú have recently conducted a composting test with the waste from banknotes withdrawn from circulation at the Control Ambiental plant, a subsidiary of Biobanknote located 60 km from Lima. Banknotes in Peru are printed on cotton paper, and waste is currently sent to landfill.

The test involved a quantity of 5.9 tonnes of briquettes and lasted for 12 weeks, with the resulting compost meeting production standards in Peru, as well as international standards.

The process began with the mandatory characterisation of the briquettes and relevant laboratory analyses, followed by strict weekly monitoring to verify the material’s behaviour in the organic compost piles. At the end of the process, in week 13, samples of the finished product were taken to determine the physical-chemical qualities in the laboratory. It was found that the product meets all the conditions and is suitable for use, accompanied by the respective quality certificates.